MERCURIAL VIRGIN

 The glorious sun has now entered the gentle but astute sign of Tropical Virgo, the sign of the Virgin. Virgo people like to be neat and organised, in striving for cleanliness and purity in their life. These qualities taken to extreme become ‘nit-picking’ and overly critical of themselves and all those around. Then there are those who rebel in their own quiet way and take to the bohemian road of complete disregard for the conventional ways of living. Then Virgo is inclined to spurn the rules of ‘neat and tidy’ or the careful attention to practicalities and duty.

 This sign has always been a bit of a mystery, especially as it is really difficult to have a baby if you are a virgin – or is it. The fact that Virgo is ruled by the planet Mercury would point to a mental virgin rather than a physical one; that is, someone with uncorrupted thinking processes or a pure heart. Such a person is best placed to see things clearly and truthfully without personal prejudice and bias.

This part of the zodiac has been associated with the Virgin Mary carrier of the Christ principal and possibly indicating an Essene priestess or priest, and before her time there was Isis and her son Horus, the well-known god and goddess of ancient Egypt.

Fred Gettings spent 16 long years researching his book    The Secret Zodiac   

from which the following wood cut was taken of the ‘Wheat Maiden’, a symbol of the sign Virgo. Gettings has much to say about the zodiac located on the floor of the Basilica of San Minato in Florence with reference to the Virgin giving birth to the Piscean sun/son.

 Virgo people have careful thinking processes that can take them to the height of their profession, and equally are they careful and practical in producing their creations, which are often in the form of potting and weaving.

GLORIOUS SUN

Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, partner of the sun god Ra.

The Sun has a special affinity with the sign Leo and in astrological terms is said to rule this sign. The sun is hot and fiery, warming and sustaining, pleasant at the right temperature but destructive when you get too much of it. The sun fires our soul and tempers our character, guiding us to our full potential.

In Alchemy, gold, the metal of the sun, is the ultimate aim of the disciple, for gold symbolises the highest attainment of human nature simply because it is the only incorruptible metal. The so called discipline of Alchemy is not really so, for it does not exist as a discipline to be studied. Alchemy is a life process and can only be lived. The endless books written on the topic are a blind for those who cannot accept the hard road of experience, which alone moulds and perfects us.

 From the alchemical text ‘The Book of Lambspring’, Figure IV reads,

The Sages do faithfully teach us

That two strong lions, to wit, male and female,

Lurk in the dark and rugged valley.

These the Master must catch,

Though they are swift and fierce,

And of terrible and savage aspect.

He who, by wisdom and cunning,

Can snare and bind them,

And lead them into the same forest,

Of him it may be said with justice and truth

That he has merited the meed of praise before all others,

And that his wisdom transcends that of the worldly wise.

Throughout mythology there are many sun gods who represent several things, among which is the hero of legend, the conqueror, the leader of the way symbolised in the magnificence of a beautiful and benign but life giving sun. Joseph Campbell is the well-known author who explores these myths and legends in some great works, not least  The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series)

SOLAR LION

Now the Sun is in the Tropical Zodiac sign of Leo. Leo types will greet you with warmth and a generous heart. But wait – did you insult the cubs? In which case you had better duck quickly in order to avoid the swift and heavy paw across your ear, for a Leo has much pride in its offspring.

Naturally, the lion is the emblem of this sign. The proud beast of the jungle, the soft pussy-cat of the den or nest. You can tell when they are unhappy for they stop their incessant grooming and walk around lonely, dejected and dishevelled. They do need your attention and understanding of their ways, even if they do roar a little at times.

Leos are proud and regal, and justly so if they are living up to the highest of their nature. This is a truth when the sun occupies any sign of the zodiac, the sun in a zodiac sign indicates where a person’s highest qualities of character are and to be striven for, such qualities at their highest expression make a true and noble character of strong individuality. A Leo shunned or abused can turn into a stubborn and dictatorial creature who has no patience with the perceived ‘enemy’.

The Sun has close ties to this sign and it too sends its warmth and vitality to its human children who inhabit Earth. Science measures the solar influence upon Earth as it reaches us from the regular and cyclic nature of the solar-flares or sun spots. These great outpourings of sun energy stream through space and influence Earth’s atmosphere with a direct hit of extra energy approximately every 11 years.

From French history we have a fine example of a ‘Sun King’ in Louis XIV, he could dance yet he could lead men to battle, he was majestic and dignified, yet rather self-indulgent. He built a sun palace at Versailles, called such for the amount of gold glittering around about! Although very popular, powerful and successful in his time, some say that over spending set the ball rolling towards the future ‘French Revolution’, a time when those who felt themselves neglected and abused, rebelled. Nancy Mitford had written a very nice book on the ‘Sun King’. The Sun King

   

Louis XIV ridding his charger, before the time of motor bikes.

[Detail from a Goblelins Tapestry reproduced in Mitford’s book]

 On the 22^nd August the sun moving from the sign of Leo to the sign of Virgo will meet the star ‘Regulus’ of the constellation Leo. This is a royal star once used to mark one of the four corners of the celestial vault in the era of the old astrologers.